Bayer to sell cancer drug Stivarga to Grünenthal in deal worth up to $431 million
核心洞察
Bayer (搜索) has agreed to sell rights to its oral cancer drug Stivarga to Germany's Grünenthal Group (搜索) for up to 375 million euros, or about 430.7 million dollars.
Stivarga is approved for metastatic colorectal cancer (搜索), hepatocellular carcinoma (搜索) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and has treated more than one million patients in over 90 countries.
Grünenthal said the acquisition advances its strategy of buying established drugs that serve continuing medical needs and should add up to about 100 million euros to 2027 EBITDA.
Bayer (搜索) has agreed to sell the rights to its cancer drug Stivarga to Grünenthal Group (搜索) for up to 375 million euros ($430.7 million), the Aachen-based acquirer said Monday. The deal transfers a once-daily oral multikinase inhibitor that has been used in three advanced tumor types and is approaching the end of its patent life in major markets.
What changes hands
Stivarga is a once-daily oral prescription medicine for certain advanced cancers. According to Grünenthal, it has treated more than one million patients across more than 90 countries over 10 years.
In the European Union, Stivarga is indicated as monotherapy for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer (搜索) (mCRC) who have been previously treated with, or are not considered candidates for, available therapies including fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy and an anti-EGFR therapy. The EU label also covers adults with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (搜索) (GIST) who progressed on or are intolerant to prior treatment with imatinib and sunitinib, and adults with hepatocellular carcinoma (搜索) (HCC) previously treated with sorafenib.
In the United States, the drug is indicated for mCRC patients previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF therapy and, if RAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy. The US label additionally covers locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic GIST previously treated with imatinib mesylate and sunitinib malate, and HCC previously treated with sorafenib.
Patent timeline and rationale
Stivarga is due to lose patent protection in the European Union in 2029 and in the United States a year later. Grünenthal said the acquisition marks the latest step in its strategy to acquire established drugs that serve continuing medical needs. The company expects the acquisition to lift its 2027 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by up to around 100 million euros.
Grünenthal describes itself as a global leader in pain management and related diseases, headquartered in Aachen, Germany, with affiliates in 28 countries across Europe, Latin America and the US and products available in approximately 100 countries. In 2025 the company employed around 4,100 people and reported revenues of 1.8 billion euros. Freshfields served as legal counsel to Grünenthal on the transaction.
Closing conditions
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026 or early 2027, subject to customary closing conditions, Grünenthal said.
For Bayer (搜索), the divestment follows the completed sale of a minority stake in its long-acting reversible contraceptives business to Apollo for around 3 billion euros earlier this month.